Cuddle Buddies
by StartingWithSugar
Summary: As close friends, you'd think Maka and I would have sorted out any 'sexual tension'. I guess that's what we were doing...besides, every friendship has 'benefits', right?
1. Abduction

**Wanted to write another SoMa, other than the one on DeviantART. Aaand…I've always wanted to write from Soul's perspective, simply because I'm so much more like Maka and I think it'd be a fun challenge. We'll see how that goes.**

**Also, their whole relationship is kinda based on one I had/have with one of my friends, buuuut…we won't get into that. Just read.**

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><p>I watched Maka grab her backpack, then slide my keys off the counter and throw them at me. I caught them swiftly (meaning, in a perfectly <em>cool<em> manner that in no way involved the floor).

So, after I bent down and touched the floor for no reason, I gestured for Maka to lead the way and we left without a single word.

You know, as much…tension…as you would think Maka and I would have, we're generally quite comfortable around each other. I mean, Black*Star could (and does. Often.) say something that would (and probably should) make us super awkward, like 'Seriously, you too should just go out' and we just kinda laugh at it and shake our heads.

It's an odd relationship, Maka and I's is. I suppose the only reason I was pondering this was because her hands were around my hips and her head was resting on my back, as they were every morning as we rode to school, and it just now occurred to me that this really doesn't make me lose my mind.

I know that a relationship wouldn't _really _ruin our friendship, but it's like…it's like we're better as friends, making fake-jokes about having fake-sex and fake-flirting. It's hard to understand, but it works for us.

Anyways, we eventually arrived at school and walked silently into the school. Not an awkward silence. Just a comfortable, 'why should we talk if we don't have anything to say' silence.

"Yo," I said, waving my hand once at the approaching Black*Star. He grinned and waved back.

"Hey! Guess who won the WORLD RECORD last night?" He said excitedly, leaving a slightly-laughing Tsubaki motioning with her hands for him to calm down at 7:30 in the morning.

Maka coughed. "World Record for WHAT, Black*Star?"

"You know what I would win the World Record for?" I said, raising my eyebrow and smirking. Maka didn't even look over at me, just kept the same face and smacked my stomach.

"Only for the BEST FIGHTER IN THE WORLD!" Black*Star said, punching the air.

"That's not even a real award," Maka tried, folding her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, um, Black*Star, I'm pretty sure you're not the best in the WORLD. You know, probably not even in Death City," I added. Tsubaki shook her head.

"He is in _Mortal Kombat 4_," She clarified. Maka and I both opened our mouths with an unspoken 'ah.'

"Hey, isn't that game like, 12 years old or something?"

"1997," Black*Star replied, still grinning. Maka widened her eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I mean. It's 14 years old."

"So?"

"Sooo…of course you're the best in the world. No one else plays it," Maka explained. Black*Star's grin faded.

"Why you gotta be such a fun-suck, Maka?" Black*Star said, jutting out his lower lip and swinging the door the Stein's classroom extremely wide, then shouting something about the 'Best Fighter in the World' arriving.

"Yeah, Maka, why you gotta put everyone down like that?" I said, smirking and poking her in the side, earning a squeak. She looked up at me and pursed her lips, then slapped my stomach again.

"Jerk."

"Fun-Suck."

"I can be fun!" She defended as we entered the classroom behind Tsubaki.

"Oh, you can be _fun _alright," I said, in a lower voice, raising my eyebrows and smirking again. Again, she slapped my stomach. (Honestly, I'm just kinda used to it. Plus, I have abs of steel ;])

…

"You know what I think is funny?" Liz said over her ever-laughing sister.

"Nope," I said, peeling my eyes away from Maka as we both quickly stopped our poking war to look at Liz. We were still guarding our stomachs, though, and Maka flinched as I got her in the side while she was trying to look at Liz.

"I think it's funny that you two are just friends. Like, are you just in a totally platonic flirtationship or something?"

I _almost_ did the classic, chuckle and say 'or something', but Maka got to the reply first.

"Flirtationship?"

"Yeah. You're constantly acting like a couple but totally aren't."

"You've said totally twice in the last 4 seconds," Maka remarked, stuffing one of her apple slices into her mouth (it was lunch, after all.)

"Besides, I think you made that word up," I added, stealing Maka's snickers and popping it into my mouth. She glared.

"Why didn't you just get your own lunch?"

"Because I didn't want lunch."

"Then why are you eating my food?" She said, frustrated.

"To mess with you."

She sighed and sat criss-crossed, smacking her face with her hands. I started laughing as Liz looked between us.

"Wasn't I talking?" She said to Kid, who shrugged and drank more of his tea. Patty's laughter changed into a repeated mix between more laughter and 'Maka and Soul are ignooorring sisssyy!'. We chose to ignore her, too.

"I'm gonna frickin' make you lunch tomorrow," Maka decided, still with her arms-crossed, and still glaring at me.

"Watch him not eat it and then steal Maka's food," said Black*Star, before he started to cackle at his own joke. I smirked and nodded.

"That's probably exactly what would happen," I admitted.

Maka let out another frustrated sigh then threw a chip at me. I snatched the chip bag from the ground, holding it away from me, forcing her to lean across my lap to reach for it. It one last-ditch effort, she grabbed my extended arm and tried to pull it backwards to no avail. She deflated, still lying across my lap.

"Soul, gimme back my chips."

I smirked and dumped the bag into my mouth. Needless to say, my abs-of-steel were left unharmed when my head had been smacked by a large textbook.

…

"Soooooooooooouuuuuulll…." Maka drawled, leaning her head against the couch.

"Maaakkkaaaaaaa….." I replied, stuffing the pizza into the microwave. It may have been my dinner night, but that doesn't mean I have to cook…

"Can you bring me a soda?"

"Why can't you get it yourself?"

"Don't be difficult, just bring me a soda," She said, flailing her arm in my general direction but not looking up from her book. I shook my head and smirked.

"Yeah, yeah. So demanding, gosh," I said, still smirking. She stuck her tongue out but still didn't look up from her book.

"Mountain Dew? Coke? Dr. Pepper?" I asked, scanning the fridge.

"Soul, all we have is Coke," She said, now looking at me and leaning over the couch trying to see the inside of the fridge. I grabbed a coke.

"Well, I thought I might ask," I joked, shutting the fridge with my leg. She raised her eyebrows.

"What if I had said Mountain Dew?"

"I would've brought you a coke." She sighed again, but with a smile, and went back to her book as I brought her the coke.

"Gracias."

"Por Favor," I replied. She raised her eyebrows again.

"Soul, that means 'please',"

"Bonjour?"

"That's not even Spanish."

"It is in my dictionary!" I defended. She sighed and put a bookmark in her book, shutting it.

"Dictionary? Like, your personal Sprench Dictionary?" Maka asked, crossing her arms.

"Yes. And Bonjour is in it, just as 'Sprench' is in your's," I replied, patting her on her head and going back to the now-beeping microwave.

I grabbed us both plates and put a few slices on them, then set one in front of her and put the other one in my lap as I reached for the remote.

"Oi, Soul?" Maka said suddenly, retrieving the remote for me and placing it in my outstretched hand.

"Aa, yes?" I said, about to shove a large quantity of pizza down my throat.

"Let's watch a movie," she suggested. You know, as often as I'm sure I frustrated Maka, I got my fair share too. For instance, WWHHYY did she just hand me the remote AS she was in the process of suggesting a movie…?

I ignored the inconsistency. "I don't really care, whatever. You pick," I urged. Maka smiled.

"Okay, let's watch Abduction **((A/N: Let's pretend it's on DVD. For some reason I feel like they should watch this.))**," She said, pulling out our new DVD and releasing it from its cellophane bonds.

"Maka, I heard that movie was terrible. In fact, Liz TOLD you the only thing watchable about was Taylor Lautner without…" I trailed off at Maka's 'duh' expression. Then I sighed.

"Okay, what makes you think this is watchable for ME?" I tried in one last desperate attempt to make the next 2 hours mildly bearable.

"Honestly, I don't really care if you tear your eyeballs out, as long as you can still turn into a scythe," she decided, flopping back down on the couch as the TV faded away from its common black state.

"How…caring," I mused. She moved her hand to shush me.

…

So, 106 minutes later, we were both sitting in front of the TV, stretching.

"Well that was fun," She said, allowing her arms to flop back down to her lap. I nodded.

"So it wasn't AS bad as I thought it was going to be," I admitted, adding my second Coke can to the pile of dinner trash collecting on the coffee table.

"It was good!" She said, hitting me in the stomach. I chuckled, but seceded.

"Barely." We sat in comfortable silence for a few seconds. Maka stood up with a deciding sigh and simply stared at the TV.

"I'm gonna go do homework," she informed, walking around the couch arm and down the hall. After a short flash in my head of a couple of scenes from the movie, I jumped up.

"Maka, wait—" I said suddenly, walking quickly over to her and her raised eyebrows as she turned around.

"No, I will not help you with last night's—" I interrupted her with my lips crashing into hers. Aah, I hate that phrase. It sounds so cliché. But that's pretty much exactly what I did.

She responded by wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling herself closer to me. My hands traveled away from her jawline and down to her waist.

I cannot tell you what made me want to do that. Maybe it was the few intense scenes between Lilly Collins and Taylor Lautner, or maybe it was just the intensity of the movie, but either way it felt like the right thing to do.

And, as Maka backed into a wall and I considered how pleasantly warms her lips were (and how oddly nice she tasted, considering the dinner we just had), I concluded it probably was.

…

**And that's where our journey begins.**

**This chapter was a little ADD, but I figured you needed a taste of Maka and Soul's everyday life before I totally dived into drama.**

**Also, sorry they're a little OOC. The only personality traits they really have in the manga are Maka's dependable, hot-tempered nature and Soul's perversion, so I tried to carry that over as best I could.**

**Reviews are lovely!**


	2. Honey I love you, But I just can't smile

**Thanks for the reviews! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy (:**

**Um, yeah, this story IS rated T, just so you guys know.**

**(There won't be any lemon, though, sorry.)**

**THE TITLE: Comes from an improv game. Just FYI. Google it if your really curious.  
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><p>My eyes fluttered open slowly to familiar curtains. At first, I was confused at thought of my clothes on the ground. Then, I was confused at the sight of Maka in the doorway, wearing my shirt.<p>

Then I remembered where I was and why I was here.

"Um…morning," Maka said awkwardly, shifting her weight between her feet. I cleared my throat.

"Morning."

"You uh…you want some breakfast?" She said, putting her hands in my pockets (she was wearing my shirt, remember?). I scratched the back of my neck.

"Er…yeah, sure." She stood in the door way for a few more seconds, awkwardly staring at the floor while I played with a thread on my comforter.

"Listen, Soul, I—" I motioned my hand back and forth before interrupting her.

"It didn't happen. I got it. We're cool. It's cool. I'm cool," I said slyly, attempting to be serious, but I couldn't resist adding that in. I mean, it's true, after all. Maka chuckled but shook her head.

"I mean—I'm not just gonna pretend it DIDN'T happen, because it clearly did," she paused to gesture and the variety of clothes laying around the floor, "but I guess—I mean—it's just—this can't be anything like, er, serious, or anything," she finished, struggling through the entire sentence.

I know where she's coming from—even at the academy, they told us not to get romantically involved with each other. Not just because they didn't want to deal with teen drama, but because it can lead to weapon-meister breakups, which screws up the whole system. And Maka had experienced it first hand, with her parents.

I sat in silence, considering my response with my brow furrowed.

"'Can't' is a present tense adjective, Maka," I decided, reaching for my pants on the ground as I did so. Maka smiled.

"Look at you, sounding all smart and correcting my grammer."

"You're a bad influence on me." I smirked again, finally standing out of bed (with my pants on) and stretching. Maka smiled before leaving the doorframe.

"I'm a bad influence because I HELP you?" She yelled from the kitchen. I was still smirking, although she couldn't see me.

"I'm supposed to be a slacker in this—" I stopped. I was about to say 'relationship' but that clearly doesn't apply, considering the talk we just had. I could say 'friendship' but that doesn't really apply either, considering we weren't going to simply ignore last night.

"—whatever the hell we are, you're supposed to be the slacker, is that what I'm hearing?" Maka finished for me. I smiled at her ability to make an awkward situation perfectly fine.

"That's exactly it," I announced upon entering the kitchen. She was grinning as she poured milk into the two bowls of cereal.

"Oh, by the way," I said, leaning up against the counter she was now eating on, "I'm gonna need my shirt back."

She stuck out her tongue and handed me my bowl of cereal.

"Sucks for you."

…

It was a weekend, which meant one of two things: studying or training. So, really, the weekends were just school days where we got to sleep in.

Although, some days, I weaseled out of studying by inviting the rest of the gang over, and those were probably my favorite days.

Today was one of those days.

I sat at my desk, staring at my guitar and wondering why I still had it (being as I've never played it) while waiting for Black*Star and the rest (don't make me name them off. You know. Tsubaki, Kid, Piz, Latty, whatever their names are) to show up, when Blair strolled over to rub against my leg.

"Blair," I greeted, bending down to pick her up and set her on my lap. She purred as she rubbed against my chest.

"This is only a little creepy," I offered, petting her as I struggled to continue my train of thought. She stopped momentarily to lick her paw.

"Oh, Don't be such a party pooper. Although it doesn't look like you're having much of a problem with that," She said slyly, gesturing her tail towards Maka's various clothing items strewn across my bedroom floor. I should probably give those back to her.

"Ugh, Blair," I started, shoving her off of my lap as I stood up, "go…work or something. You really should be paying part of the rent."

"Do you make all your pets pay rent?" She asked, blinking, as she curled up into a ball by my windowsill.

"Blair. You're not a cat."

"Am too! Nyaaa!" She seemed to add the last bit just to spite me. I grumbled gibberish about Blair's annoying presence as I picked the clothes off the floor, throwing mine into the hamper and carrying Maka's towards her bedroom. Blair leapt up and followed me.

"Ne, Soul?" She asked, weaving in and out of my footsteps. It was getting increasingly hard to avoid stepping on her. Oh well, her lesson to be learned.

"Stop doing that. And what?" I answered, stopping mid-hallway so she could finish our conversation and she would stop trying to trip me.

"Why didn't you just put the clothes in the dirty laundry? Surely Maka doesn't need them anymore?"

I raised my eyebrow, stared and the clothes, then looked back down at Blair.

"Touche." I continued down the hallway anyway, without Blair this time. She giggled behind me before trotting to the couch.

I knocked on the door lightly before entering. Maka whirled around in her spinning chair as I did, and I couldn't help but notice the fact that she was still wearing my shirt. _Only _my shirt.

"Um, clothes for clothes?" I offered, stretching my arm toward her. Her pigtails swung back and forth before she popped another pocky stick into her mouth.

"Your shirt's too comfy," she explained after gulping her snack down. I sighed.

"Well, you know, if comfort is the problem, you could just go shirtless. I'm sure that's very comfortable," Maka's eyebrows raised, then she smirked.

"You would know."

…

"Seriously, Black*Star, don't touch the oven. I fully believe your finger can pass through flame," Maka tried for the 4th time, standing protectively in front of the stove.

Black*Star shook his blue head vehemently. "No, Maka! You will not believe until you see it with your own eyes!" He pried his eyes extra-wide with his fingers as he spoke. Maka put her palm to her face.

"Okay. Do it. See what happens," She suggested, gesturing toward the stove and shifting her weight to the other foot. She was, at this point, wearing her own shirt if you were still unclear about that. (I liked her better in mine, to be honest.)

Black*Star did in fact thrust his finger into the small blue flame. His eyes grew very wide for a moment before he yanked it out and he bit his lip as he did so.

"There," he strained to get out, "Mission accomplished."

We all froze there for a second, waiting for him to burst out in tears or into some fantastically narcissistic comment, but instead he simply bit harder on his lip and pressed his finger tightly.

"Go run it under cold water," I finally said, gesturing towards the sink. He let out a large breathe and sprinted towards the chrome washbowl.

Maka shook her head and faced the ground, chuckling. I scooted around a little so I was standing next to her.

I should've said something like, "why is it always our place" or, "Black*Star…is one hell of a fathead." Or something adequately less awkward, but sometimes my lips and my brain don't obey me in a way that benefits the whole me in a cooperative and mutual way. Like now.

"What do we say?" Maka looked at me with wide eyes right as it came out of my mouth. I simply stared back at her, waiting for an answer. I mean, the damage was already done, what's a little collateral on the side? She coughed/choked a little before replying.

"Um, nothing?" She finally responded nervously, as if she was unsure of her answer. But Maka, unlike me, was always sure of everything that came out of her mouth. Just so confident about everything she says, so sure that she is always right. I combed my hair back with my hand.

"Guess not."

We stood there in silence for a few moments before Tsubaki gasped loudly and we turned around to see her scolding Black*Star. She looked up at us and frowned.

"I'm…I, honestly, am so sorry he did this! I can't believe I let him even—I'm sorry, you guys, really, he just doesn't think sometimes—"

"Tsubaki!" Maka said, putting her hand out to stop her. Tsubaki slowed down for a moment and her speech trailed off, "He's not your son. He's your partner. You don't have to apologize; he made that decision entirely on his own."

I shrugged, "Besides, it's not damaging us in any way." Maka slapped my stomach again.

…

"What a day," Maka said, after shooing Patty out the door to catch up with Kid and Liz. She flopped down on the couch with a 'plop' and spread across the entire thing. I leaned over the back of it.

"You plan on sharing?" I asked suavely, crossing my arms. She raised her eyebrows.

"Make me." I blinked twice. Let's do this.

I jumped over the couch and over Maka, earning a squeal, before I buried both of my hands underneath her. Her eyes widened and she started to squirm when she realized what I was doing.

"Soul! No, no, no, no, no! Stop! Wait! Noooo!" She resisted, but I picked her up anyway and spun around. Expecting me to set her on the coffee table, she relaxed, and I smirked. I win again.

Instead of setting her on the coffee table, I sat down on the couch, still holding her bridle style. She sighed and laughed a little before trying to stand up, so I latched tighter.

"Can I go?" She asked, crossing her small arms indignantly. I shook my head.

"Nope."

"You're going to make me lay here?"

"Or somewhere else." Her eyes locked with mine for a moment while I raised the corner of my mouth into a cocky grin. The eye contact broke and she started cracking up. Finally, she squirmed out of my hold and stood up on her feet, facing me.

"Ha," She said, putting her hands on her hips and smiling triumphantly.

"You think you're in the clear, don't you?" I asked, grinning even wider. She nodded.

"I," She started, gesturing towards herself, "am standing in the clear," she gestured about the area around her.

So, instead of replying, I grabbed her hips and pulled her back on top of me, squeezing yet another high pitch squeal out of her. I started laughing as she pouted.

"Damn it," she muttered, crossing her arms from my lap. I grinned after my laughing session.

We sat there, in total silence for a few moments, her lying on my lap. She cleared her throat.

"Um, Soul?" She shifted uncomfortably. Oh no. There are very few things that made Maka uncomfortable. I could pretty much guess this alone time, in a position far too similar to a position in a far more awkward (or at least awkward to talk about) time, was more than enough. I grunted in response.

"You wanna, like," She cleared her throat again, "do…something?" her face was as red as a tomato when her eyes flicked to the hallway just long enough for me to know what she was talking about.

I leaned forwards far enough so our lips were pressed together (I wouldn't necessarily call it gently…), and my hand slid up to her face. She resisted, momentarily, before pressing back against me and allowing my tongue to slide into her mouth, moving her hands to loop around my neck.

I pulled apart, barely, and breathed into her neck. "One question, first," I whispered, smirking she tensed as my mouth neared her ear.

"My place or yours?"

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><p><strong>Sorry this took so long. I wasn't really sure how to get the ball rolling. I think I have an idea now. Think.<strong>

**I'll try to get the next one out sooner, I pretty promise :x**

**Reviews are for doing. Don't let them down now.  
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	3. A Lesson in Romantics

**See, it went faster that time. Don't be mad. Be glad. MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

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><p>"Maka," I said, struggling to untangle myself from the sheets and Maka. She rolled over and groaned.<p>

"Yeah, um-what?" I asked, more in a generalized since that asking what she said. She turned her head to face me.

"What do you mean, 'What'?" She asked, rubbing her eyes and sitting up next to me. I rubbed my chin and rested my hands against my cheek.

"What um—what?" I asked again, unable to rephrase the statement. I figure she'll just start explaining something, and something else will make sense. That's usually the way it works with her.

"Look—" She paused to sit up, "after 6 years of being you're partner, doing the same dance over and over and over again, it's nice to—" she paused again, the words to complete her statement failing. She licked her lips and attempted to continue, "—to finally have a change in pace." I blinked at her for a few seconds. So that made almost LESS sense than before.

"Change in pace? So going from a—a dysfunctional friendship to SEX is a nice change in pace?" I said incredulously, still keeping my voice low. She simply shrugged, grabbing my robe off the bedpost before standing up.

"I'm surprised you're the one who's up in arms about this," she noted coyly, getting ready to leave the room. I ran my hand through my hair.

"I'm surprised you're the one who's so willing. I mean—you're Maka. If anyone would be afraid of commitment, it'd be you." I was skating on thin ice. I wasn't sure what else to say, to make her realize why I was so confused, I guess, but that didn't seem like the right thing. She turned around slowly to face me again.

"This isn't committing, Soul," She spoke softly, but her lips enunciated every word. She shut her eyes and took a deep breathe, walking slowly back over to the bed and sitting back down, her light weight barely making a difference.

"Look, I—I don't want to talk about this. At least not now—not while we're still at the academy, while we still HAVE to be close. We're trapped, Soul, whether we want to be or not. If this is the only thing that can happen without the possibility of tension, then so be it. That's just what's going to happen," she concluded, looking at the loose seam she had found on the sheets rather than me. I sucked in air, then breathed out slowly. She was still wearing my robe, and it was gigantic on her; the hand that wasn't playing with the seam was completely buried in the other sleeve and therefore not visible. I sighed before speaking.

"So be it. I know I started this, and honestly, I have no intention of finishing it with this discussion. Just wanted to understand a little. Maybe, um…" I trailed off, tapping my chin for dramatic effect, "…ground rules?"

Maka chuckled and looked up at me, a grin re-inhabiting her face. She sat criss-cross on the bed now, facing me completely.

"First of all, no mention of this outside of the apartment—and ONLY between us. Don't tell anyone. Especially not Black*Star. Next, let's try to keep it at," she bit her lip, her face turning a darker shade of red, "night. And we're not gonna like, hold each other or anything any other time. No Couch-cuddling times. We are NOT a couple," She established, holding up her fingers as she counted off the rules. I was taken aback at how quickly she drew that list up, but I guess they were pretty basic.

"Then what are we?" I replied smugly. She raised her eyebrows thoughtfully and put her hands on her hips.

"Cuddle Buddies," she finally decided, nodding as she said it. I turned my head and chuckled.

"Maka, you just said we WEREN'T going to cuddle. Wouldn't, 'Friends with Benefits' be more appropriate? Why so untraditional?" I asked, resting my elbow against the head of the bed as I leaned back. She stuck her tongue out.

"Irony is fun. Besides, 'Friends with Benefits' is to mainstream." She bounced off the bed, the long robe going down almost to her ankles as she pranced out of the room.

"By the way, we're training today. So get dressed," She added, peeping her head in through the door. I smiled and nodded.

"Who needs clothes." She squinted her eyes.

"Pretend I'm smacking you're stomach right now." She swung her hand back in forth in front of her, then disappeared behind the door again.

…

"Maka," I said, blowing my hair out of my face; which was, as it were, useless, because the wind blew it right back where it was, "why here?"

She adjusted her skirt again before putting her hands on her hips and shifting her weight to one leg. "Because it's nice?" she yelled back, over the wind.

I groaned and walked closer, so I was standing next to her. "It's a green field. And it's very, _very _windy."

She rolled her eyes and strolled over to a large rock, me trailing behind her.

"Thanks, I didn't notice," she replied, sticking her tongue out, "I figured we should try flying close-ground, and wind resistance is what we're used to; might make things easier."

I stared at her for a minute, pretending to contemplate (because she was going to inevitably win) what she had said. Instead of thinking of an answer, I watched the way some of the hair of her pigtail got caught on her shoulder, and didn't fly back with the others—which were like a ribbon tied to a 1960s air conditioning machine in Arizona. She ran her thin fingers along her neck, freeing all the caught hairs and my eyes followed her hand back to her side. She unconsciously fiddled with a fold in the blue skirt, her gloved fingers moving quickly and in wild, yet small motions to get it to straighten. After a moment of triumph, it flipped back up and she ceased. Her eyes hadn't looked down at it once.

"Yeah," I said, shaking myself out of my thoughts, "Yeah, I guess that's fine." She grinned and hopped over to me, holding her hand out.

I saw Maka's pigtails fly backwards and up for a moment before the familiar sensation came over me and I saw Maka's face through a blade-shaped light.

"You ready?" She asked, smiling at me. I closed my eyes and smirked.

"Don't say such an uncool line, Maka."

…

I blinked twice, watching her retreating form become engulfed by the shadows of the hallway.

"What?"

She turned around and came back into the light of the kitchen, yanking her gloves of roughly and setting them on the kitchen counter.

"I'm just tired today, okay? Sorry." She didn't return my gaze; didn't even look at my face. Instead, her eyes stayed steadily on Blair as she spoke, until she turned around and walked quietly back towards her room.

I shrugged. I mean—we're not a couple, why should we sleep in the same room? Yet, even though it had only been two days, it still didn't feel right to actually be GOING to sleep. I followed Maka into the hallway but turned into my room, then sat on my bed for a minute. I feel like I haven't laid down—closed my eyes—counted sheep—whatever, for almost a month. But I wasn't relieved; I felt bare. Like, the emptiness of the space next to me just didn't feel right, even if it'd only been otherwise for 2 nights.

I groaned, throwing my jacket off and flopping backwards into the bed. It's not over, Soul, get ahold of yourself. This is ridiculous. It's been one night, it can't be over yet. We just set rules, she seemed just as content about it. She's probably just tired, like she said. It was a rough day of training.

OR…she's second guessing, because she's realized—like I have—that something like this is inevitably going to fail. I mean, if it'll never work, why not cut it off early?

Look at all the statistics: I challenge you to find a single example where someone has successfully had a Friend with Benefits—ahem, _Cuddle Buddy—_and been perfectly satisfied with the way their relationship is long term. Someone falls for the other one, something gets to serious, someone finds someone else that they WANT to be serious with…either way, someone gets hurt or you end up romantically involved. Neither of those things includes anything a happy, platonic relationship.

Which is what Maka and I need to be.

Besides, where is this supposed to end? When? One day, do we just decide, "oh, you know, let's go back to being just friends". That seems sorta hard to do once you've taken someone's virginity.

I sighed again, rolling over to face my window. I'm clearly thinking to hard; this is only night 3. The future holds what the future holds, you know? Why not just let it happen?

…

I awoke to a sudden flick on my ear, startling me out of a world where everyone had one of those trademark smiley faces and—oh, nevermind. It was just strange. Anyways, Maka flicked my ear to wake me up.

Wait, what? Maka? I sat up quickly, rubbing my eyes and facing her.

"I thought—what?" I said, failing to notice her fully clothed (shoes and all) state until after I had spoken.

"Wake up, idiot. We have to leave for school in 20 minutes," she barked, swinging her legs to the other side of the bed and standing up (she was sitting on my bed next to me; it was really strange, for real). She adjusted one of her pigtails before continuing out the door. I blinked again.

"Well good morning to you too," I grumbled.

After changing clothes and running my fingers through my hair (What? Don't look at me like that. My fingers work perfectly fine as a brush) I slid into one of the kitchen chairs.

"What's for breakfast?" Maka turned around to look at me, apron tied around her neck and waist.

"Eggs," she replied, "but only one for each of us, because we forgot to go by the store yesterday after training." The mention of 'after training' reminded me of her face as she avoided my eyes last night, which reminded me of my thoughts again.

"R-right. Yeah. It was a rough training session, figures we forgot," I said, looking up at her face when I was finished to reveal any sort of feeling. It betrayed nothing.

"Tiring but useful," she replied, grinning as she put the chopped yellow egg on my plate. "Salt?"

I nodded without talking. If she could brush it off that easily without showing even a hint of worry or regret, than clearly it did not mean as much as my mind made it out too. I smiled into the first bite, ignoring the fact that she had poured nearly half the salt shaker onto it.

"S'very salty," I noted with my mouth full. She slapped my stomach as she walked by and sat on the other side of me.

"You're very salty."

"What does that even mean?" I asked, bemused. She paused to look at me, biting her red lips for a moment before shrugging and taking a bite of her breakfast.

"It means," she said, after swallowing, "that you are high in sodium."

* * *

><p><strong>Yes? No? Maybe? Let me know what you think!<strong>

**Next one should be up within the week. SHOULD, don't hold a gun to my head.**


	4. AN: Sorry!

Hey, it's Lania.

Sorry it's taking me so terribly long to update this story. I can't really decide how fast I want it to move/what plot twists I want to include, so I'm still trying to work out some details. My computer was literally fried during a lightning storm a few days ago and I ended up having to re-format it, losing everything in the process-including whatever progress I had made on the next chapter. Until further notice, I'm going to take a hiatus from this story and focus on my other Naruto story. I know you don't like to to hear that but thanks for the patience.

I still love you guys,  
>Lania<p> 


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